Dr Tom: Why taking your blood pressure is so important

Maybe we should rename blood pressure to heart pressure because when the cuff tightens around your arm it is really measuring the pressure in your heart.

What is blood pressure, why is it important and what can you do about it?

Maybe we should rename blood pressure to heart pressure because when the cuff tightens around your arm it is really measuring the pressure in your heart. Blood Pressure or “BP” is made up of two numbers, the systolic and the diastolic pressure – fancy names that basically mean the maximum pressure and resting pressure of the heart.